When Dreams Come True (The Star Series Book 1) (13 page)

“No worries. We’ve got tile down there. Plus, some big-time movie star just hired a cleaning crew for us. We’ll let them know it’s all his fault.”

Will laughed. “You win, Hannah. We’ll keep our clothes on.” He lowered his voice and looked at Lissa. “For now.”

Before Lissa knew it, they were saying good-bye. They’d spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool and her bedroom. Lying in each other’s arms, they’d started planning what they’d do the next time they were together. Lissa was looking forward to it because they’d be going to Paris first for a fundraiser for Safe Water, a foundation to bring awareness to clean water for mothers and children. Then they’d head to his town of London for a special theater presentation of his favorite works by Shakespeare. After that, Will and Beau would travel on to Chicago to start work on her movie, and Lissa and Hannah would be following a couple of weeks later.

She stood in the driveway, watching him get into his car. He turned and blew her a kiss before driving off. Watching his car became smaller and smaller as it traveled down the hill and into town before disappearing completely, she promised herself she wouldn’t cry. It was only for a couple of weeks; much shorter than last time. She could do this. She was strong enough.

Hannah approached and slung her arm over her shoulder. “How’re you holding up?”

“Fine. Better than last time.”

“You know all the crap I’ve been through?”

“Yep.”

“You know how you were there for me? How you listened to me? Helped me get through it all.”

“Yep.”

Hannah lightly slapped her upside the head. “Damnit, I’m here for you. Let me help this time.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Seriously, let me help you. You’re going to piss me off if you pull that shit again. Not to mention that man who just left. He’s got those ‘oh, I’m in love’ glasses on, but if you continue not to take care of yourself, you’ll end up looking worse. And when he sees you next time, in person, girl, he’s going to flip his lid. And you know what that means? He’s going to be chewing
my
ass out, which means
I
take it out on
you
.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Melissa…”

“Hannah, I know. I’ve actually had a lot of time to think while he was here. I don’t know if it makes me a weak female but having him here, having him next to me, I was able to see things clearly. I was able to relax and let my guard down. It’s so easy to fall into allowing him to do things for me, and that was a little scary, too.”

“It always is.”

“And we are going to make some changes. I know he steamrolled his way through certain aspects of my life, but they were good suggestions, and there are a few more things I want to change. I
am
going to take care of myself, but these next two weeks we are going to seriously get down to business. We have a lot of things to organize and get set up for the next six months. I’m so far ahead of schedule I don’t have to write a word for the next year. While we both know I’ll never be able to do that, I don’t have to feel the pressure to get the next book out, and I’m going to use that to my advantage. Mr. Martinsson and I are going to be spending a lot of time together and then we’ll see where all of this is going.”

“Excellent.” Hannah rubbed her hands together. “I take it this is going to be a super-secret mission? Can I have a code name?”

“What, you don’t like Boxer Betty?”

Hannah shrugged. “Too many people know it. How about Agent Sexy?”

“I’d feel kind of strange calling you that. You’re not really my type.” Lissa winked at her.

“Yeah, we know what
your
type is: tall, hot, sexy movie stars.”

“Do you blame me?”

“Hell no. His voice could melt panties. Oh! That’ll be his code name: Panty-Melter.”

“Sounds about right to me.” Lissa laughed. “We’ll have to work on yours. Now we need to get busy making sure everything is done in the next two weeks.”

August 2015

Lissa had spent the past ten days working her butt off with Hannah, and they finally had everything ready to go and organized. She was spending the next day on video conferences with the rest of her team to make sure everyone was on the same page going forward. Then she’d start packing and be ready to spend some time with Will. No distractions and no deadlines during their free time together. When he was working, she’d be working; otherwise, it was going to be just the two of them. Well, plus Hannah and Beau who were going to be traveling with them on and off.

She took everything she’d need up to her room, since Will was supposed to be calling in the next half hour for their nightly video chat. She was so excited, especially since she’d gotten the final script for her movie earlier in the day. She’d read through it about a dozen times and was very happy with how they’d adapted her book. The first person she wanted to share it with was him, so she’d kept it hidden from Hannah all day, which hadn’t been easy. She wondered if his script had been delivered to him yet. He’d already been reading her book over and over and asking her questions about the character, trying to get more insight into him.

Lying in bed, she flipped through the channels hoping something would interest her while she waited for him. When one of the superhero movies he was in came on, she stopped and watched. Smiling at the little things which were inherently
his
mannerisms and the ones which were for the character, she lost track of time and her eyes became heavy before she fell asleep. Her last thought was to wonder why he’d missed calling her. He’d never done that before.

Hannah crept into Lissa’s room to make sure she was actually asleep and not working. Everything was going according to plan. Taking the laptop off the bed, she placed it on the nightstand and moved the papers. She turned the light off, but left the television on.

Heading back downstairs, she checked her phone and saw another text message; he was running a bit late. It seemed like everything about the night wasn’t going as planned. Pulling off something like this twice in a couple of weeks was nerve-wracking. Lissa had been keeping a closer eye on everything, and sneaking it past her was difficult.

She was so happy for Lissa. Things were falling into place, her writing was the best she’d ever read, and she was very soon going to be heading off on a new adventure. How it was going to end up affecting her, Hannah had no idea. Lissa was still going to need her, but she was going to miss seeing her every day, being able to help her, and reading her work daily as she wrote it.

Seeing Lissa take the leap made Hannah’s heart long for something similar, but it was hard to trust her heart when the last person she’d given it to did his best to kill it. Literally. Maybe she was meant to be alone, as she had thought for so long.

Her phone chirped and she looked down to see a text from Royce, causing her to smile. They had become friends since meeting in Los Angeles, and he’d send her funny texts every once in a while. It was almost like he was connected to her, because they always came through when she was down and needed some cheering up. She thought it was pretty cool her movie-star crush had become a friend she could rely on.

When the coffee finished brewing, she poured herself a cup and went through the living room onto the balcony to wait for the lights of his car to come up the road. While she waited, she was trying to picture what her life was going to end up changing into. Looking up, she saw a shooting star. Closing her eyes, she dared to make a wish, one she wasn’t certain she deserved but longed for nonetheless.

For the second time in as many weeks, Lissa woke up to someone in her bed. Slowly turning over, she saw it was Will. She wondered what time he’d gotten in. Knowing she didn’t fall asleep until late, it must have been in the middle of the night. Very quietly, she got up and left him sleeping. She knew between the flight and the time change, he was going to need it.

Her first stop was the kitchen where she happened to run into Hannah. “Good morning!”

“Well, well, well. Looks like finding a present in her bed this morning made someone a very happy morning person.”

“Yes, well, you know I like to leave you to the whole ‘it’s a great and beautiful morning so I’m going to skip and sing to start the day’ character trait.”

“Ha-ha. Here. The cinnamon rolls just came out of the oven.”

“Seriously? Gimme.” She bit into one. “Oh, sweet nectar of the Gods. What did I do to deserve this so I can do it again?”

Hannah smirked at her. “I thought you might need the extra calories.”

“You’re such a dirty birdie. You know very well we’ve been sleeping. What time did he get in?”

“Takes one to know one. About three-thirty in the morning.”

“Wow. I’m sorry you were up that early.”

“It wasn’t much earlier than usual. He was supposed to fly into Tucson about ten, but they were diverted to Phoenix, and there were delays in landing there and getting a rental car to drive down here.”

“He drove from Phoenix?” She was glad she hadn’t known that. She’d have been up worrying about him driving being so tired and on unfamiliar American roads.

“First, you know he’s a big boy, right? And he
does
know how to drive, even here in the Wild Wild West.”

Lissa stuck her tongue out at her. “Yes, I know, but that still won’t stop me from worrying. You know that.”

“Yes, I do, and that’s just one of the reasons I love you. But to continue, no, he did not drive alone. Beau came with him.”

“Oh, well, is Beau still sleeping?”

“I don’t know. He’s at the rental. I told him he could stay here in the guest room, but he said he’d bunk with the security team.”

“Hmmm… okay, but he does know he can come up here any time he wants, right?”

“Yes, Mom, he knows.”

Lissa made a face at her. “I’m going to go over my notes for today before the calls start.”

“Here.” Hannah handed her some papers. “I made some more you might want to go over. I’ll be down in a little bit.”

“Wonderful. Thanks.”

Lissa absently walked down the hall to her office as she read Hannah’s comments. Talking to herself, she walked to her desk and made additional notes on the corresponding meeting agendas. Sliding her pen through her hair which was loosely piled high on top of her head, she held the papers in one hand as she walked over to bi-fold doors and opened them to the balcony. Stepping out she enjoyed the warmth of the morning, knowing that in just another hour it would be too warm to stay out for long.